Combined box and wallet.



No. 775,285. PATENTED NOV. 15, 1904. E. MODONALD.

COMBINED BOX AND WALLET.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17.1902.

N0 MODEL.

' U uBxa H J FIGJ INVENTOP iigmdw WITNEESEE UNITED STATES Patented November 15, 1904.

PATENT OEEIcE.

COMBINED BOX AND WALLET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 775,285, dated November 15, 1904.

Application filed June 17,1902.

To a, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIZABETH MCDONALD, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city and county of San Francisco, in the State of California, haveinvented a Combined Box and 1V allet, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is primarily devised as a collapsible lunch-box which is conveniently cut and developed from a piece of leather or fabric or pasteboard covered with leather and which folds when empty by wrapping part upon part into the size and form of a convenient wallet that may be carried in the pocket or by its chain or other porting means in the hand, as is customary with ladies in carrying a purse, and by varying the size and form this device becomes a school-knapsaclc, a portmanteau, &c.

The accompanying drawings form part of this specification as a means of illustration, in which like reference characters indicate like parts in the several figures.

Figure 1 illustrates the development of this device from a single sheet of material, and therefore its fully extended or open aspect. Fig. 2 is a perspective showing the device partly folded to constitute a lunch-box,sehoolknapsack, or other receptacle, as the case may be. Fig. 3 is a perspective illustrating the box complete, except that a clasping-flap is not snapped in position, but lies loose. Fig. 4 is a similar perspective showing the box standing edgewise instead of flatwise,as in Fig. 3, a carrying handle being dropped down against the remote side. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the folding of the invention to constitute a wallet, either from the fully-extended aspect shown in Fig. 1 or from the box form of Figs. 2, 3, and A, of which Fig. 5 shows the folding of its laterals or wings, Fig. 6 its longitudinal doubling up, and Fig. 7 the wallet completed, but with its flapunclasped and turned up.

In the development of this invention as represented by Fig. 1 the extended outline is cruciform, comprising a longitudinal part A and two more or less equal and similar wings B and C, disposed upon opposite sides of the said part A and relatively at right angles to Serial No. 112,109. (No model.)

the same. These parts A, 1%, and C are practically rectangular in form and are divided by parallel straight lines D E, F G, H 1, J K, drawn transversely of A and at right angles to its longitudinal edges, into the parallelograms L M N O P Q, R S T. The parallelograms L, M, N, O, and P compose and are portions exclusively of the longitudinal part A, and the parallelograms Q, R, S, and T are the divisions of the wings B C, Q and R composing the wing B and S and T the wing C. The three parallelograms Q M S are in line with each other across the longitudinal part A, being bounded transversely of said part A by the straight lines D E and F G. and similarly the three parallelograms R N T are in line transversely of the part A, being bounded in a similar manner by the straight lines F C- and H I, the said lines D E, F (i, and H I extending through the part A and also through or along both wings B C.

The part A is bounded along its longitudinal sides by the parallel lines A A A A* and at its ends by the lines A A and A P A, the latter being broken or curved centrally at the point P. The longitudinal lines A A and A A" are intersected by the transverse lines D E, F G, and H1 (which extend into or along the wings B C) at and by the points 1) F H, respectively, on the line A A and by the points E Cr 1 on the line A A. The portions D F H of the line A A and E G of the line A" A, the line J K, and the portions D D, l) E", 1 E of the line D E, F F, F G, i" Cr of the line F G, and the parts H H, H l, l l of the line H 1 are the folding or doubling lines of the invention in transforming it from the box to the wallet form, and vice versa. Let it be understood that the lengths of the wings B C transversely of the part A and the widths of portions L M N O longitudinally of the said part A are all equal each to each.

lt is understood that I provide flexible material for the doubling and folding lines just mentioned when using material too stiff to easily bend for the aforesaid parallelograms which are to constitute the walls of the box. In fact, my device is (except for simple tough cardboard forms) preferably composed of two cruciform pieces of flexible material morocco, linen, &c.-intended to serve as a backing and lining, respectively, and of fillingpieces of cardboard put into the parallelograms above described. These parallelograms are first pasted to the backing, each parallelogram slightly separated from its contiguous pieces to admit of a free flexible joint, and then the lining is pasted upon these thus-secured and cruciformly disposed parallelograms, completely covering the same. However, there are many ways of manufacturing my improved box, whether made of a simple or a composite sheet of material, by a single operation or a multiplicious process, and while specifying what I believe to be the best method of practicing the invention 1 do not place any limitation thereon in this or any other respect.

To develop the box form or forms of Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the wings B C are bent at right angles to the longitudinal part A along the lines D F H, E G I, respectively, which will constitute the ends of the box, and the parts L O are similarly bent along the lines D E and H 1, respectively, to make the rear and front sides of the form of box illustrated by Figs. 2 and 3 or the bottom and top, respectively, of the form shown in Fig. 4. The portions M and N of the part A together compose the bottom of the box, Figs. 2 and 3, or the near face of the other form, Fig. 4:. The portion P of the part A is a flexible clasping-flap and is of a greater width, considered lengthwise of the entire part, than any two of the other portions, so as to form a cover for the box when open and extend over one or more of the other portions and be secured thereto tohold the box closed. In order to hold these box forms firmly in position, I provide the wings B C with lapping folds or flange parts U, (shown triangular in shape,) arranged on opposite sides or ends of the said wings (when considered lengthwise of the blank from which the box is formed) and turned in longitudinally with relation to the part A. It is manifest from what has already been said that when the device is folded in the box form the line D D contacts and coincides with the line A D, and likewise the line H H with J H, E E with A E, and I I with K I, so that a part V, Fig. 2, of a ball-and-socket or other fastener secured at the upper corners of these laps U, one to each, would contact the counterpart of such fasteners when properly placed or secured at the corresponding upper corners of the portions L and O, which, as easily understood, would when clasped hold the box form of the invention sufiiciently rigid.

To develop the wallet form of the device, the wings B C are first folded upon the part A along the lines D H and E I, respectively, as shown in Fig. 5, and the portions M and N of the said part A are doubled down against each other, the bottom of the one against the bottom of the such as 1 other, along the line F G, which also necessitates the doubling back or in the same direction of the portions Q R of the wingB and S T of the wing C along the lines F F, G G, respectively, as illustrated by Fig. 6. The portions L and O of the part A double up toward each other and against the wings B C, previously folded and doubled, as just described. These thus folded and doubled parts are then pressed tightly together and are wrapped or clasped in or by the flap P, as suggested by Figs. 6 and 7. In order to hold the flap P in secure contact with a given part of the folded wallet for instance, the inner end of P or the portion O1 provide a hook X, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 6, and 7, or the socket of a ball-and-socket snap or a slot for a staple-and-lock fastener or other suitable means disposed at or near the point P and a corresponding eye, ball, staple, or other cou-nterpart Y, secured at a suitable place on the back of the part P or O. This same clasping means serves also for the box form of the device, except that for the latter the counterpart of the fastener Xis located on the back of the portion M, as at Y, Fig. 1.

For carrying the box or walletI provide any suitable handle or porting means-such as are used with ladies hand-purses, portmanteaux, or knapsacksas the size, form, and use of the device may require. As I do not restrict my invention to any specific means of carrying the device or securing it to the person, I have only illustrated a simple strap Z to be used as a handle in cheap forms of the device. This and other carrying means will be secured differently to different forms of the device as the particular case may suggest. In Figs. 3 and 4: I have illustrated two positions, one in each. I prefer to make the said handle Zremovable and interchangeable, so as to discard it at times or to shift its position. For the latter purpose I provide variously-arranged fasteners therefor, as Z Z Z Z*. In any case for the wallet form of lunch-boxes the handle may be folded within the wallet, as'in Fig. 7, and the whole placed in the pocket or carried in the hand.

In Figs. 2 and 6 and dotted in in Fig. 1 I have shown a small pocket or purse L for petty cash, stamps, &c. This purse L may have one or several compartments and may be repeated in other forms and sizes on other folds of the wallet or sides of the box.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

An article of the kind described consisting of a sheet of material comprising an elongated rectangular main portion and a rectangular wing on each side thereof near one end, said main portion being divided transversely into five flexibly -interco nnected parts, four of which are of substantially the same width and the fifth one of which is of greater width than any two of the others and provided with a fasl means for engaging with one of said retain- IO tener, the end two of the four parts being each provided with retainers, and the wings being foldably connected with the two intermediate parts of said four parts and each foldable transversely on a line with the fold between said intermediate parts, said wings being each further provided at each end with a foldable triangular lap, each lap being provided with ers, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELIZABETH MCDONALD. it. 3.]

\Yitnesses:

JNO. J. OToonn, EUS'LAOE CULLINAN. 

